BATTAGRAM: Two men, who allegedly sexually assaulted, blackmailed and killed a boy by provocative suicide, have been arrested by the Police.
The men had filmed the sexual assault in the city a few months ago and used the video to harass and blackmail the juvenile victim. The boy committed suicide, succumbing to the mental torture.
According to District Police Officer (DPO) Battagram, Abdul Rauf Babar Qaisrani, the alleged paedophiles were arrested on Monday night.
The two arrestees had reportedly recorded raping the boy on video and were taken into police custody following an investigation via scientific methods, Qaisrani added.
The nine-year-old victim Adnan, who was an orphan, had a troubled life even before the sexual assault. He took his own life on March 14th in a village of Battagram district, Singli Bala, Pakistan Today learnt.
The incident, which took place in the metropolis’ Bin Qasim Town, was not reported by the deceased’s family until a few days later and even then, they did not name anyone in the First Information Report (FIR), Pakistan Today learnt from Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) investigation, Sardar Khan.
These investigations fail if the victims family don’t cooperate with the police, the family confessed. Requesting the public to highlight such social evils, the victim’s kin added that “the only way such crimes can be avoided in the future is if they are highlighted”.
The family further said, in a video statement, that the case highlights the success of the police department as one accused has confessed and the second accused will probably confess too as he is in police custody.
Following the FIR, the investigation only picked up the pace when the boy committed suicide and the tragedy was highlighted in the media. Adnan had been sexually assaulted five months before his suicide.
“Technically this is a suicide case,” said the police while speaking to the media.
“People tried to give a different shade to the case, but this is a straightforward suicide case,” stressed the senior police officials.
Unfortunately, cases of child sexual abuse are not uncommon in Pakistan. According to the latest numbers released by Sahil NGO, which works on child protection with a special focus on sexual abuse, the total number of reported child abuse cases stood at a staggering 4,469, making the total number of children being abused in Pakistan per day to 11.
